This study will evaluate subjects with adult- and childhood-onset myositis to learn more about their causes, and the immune system changes and medical problems associated with them. Myositis is an inflammatory muscle disease that can damage muscles and other organs, resulting in significant disability.

This study is a clinical trial of intravenous sodium thiosulfate, a drug being tested for efficacy and safety in patients who have moderate to extensive calcinosis associated with juvenile and adult dermatomyositis.

The DNA & Your Environment Study is a long-term initiative to collect approximately 20,000 DNA samples from individuals. These DNA samples will be used to examine risk factors for common health conditions such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, asthma, and Alzheimer’s disease.

The Immunity Cells in Blood Study aims to determine the response of immune cells from the bloodstream. This study will investigate the response of immune cells to various signals in the test tube to determine how they sense the signals in the body and what substances they produce in response to them.

This study attempts to determine if environmental and geographic exposures may be related to the development of myositis during military service and to obtain an initial understanding of the possible mechanisms involved.

NHALES stands for Natural History of Asthma with Longitudinal Environmental Sampling. Your participation in the NHALES Study will contribute to research on how the environment affects the human body and asthma. Please consider joining today.

Many women develop irregular menstrual cycles which may make it difficult to become pregnant and increase the risk of osteoporosis. Why do exercise and diet have this effect in some women but not others? This study will help us understand how nutrition, exercise, and the environment affect women's reproductive cycles.

NIEHS scientists will explore whether there is a difference in lung cells from healthy and asthmatic participants and how these cells respond to exposure to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a very common virus that leads to cold-like symptoms. The study will also evaluate if a protein in lung cells called TGF-Beta increases risk of infection with RSV.

Researchers are interested in developing a registry protocol to obtain biologic and environmental samples anonymously from adult volunteers for use in laboratory tests and studies. The samples will be used to determine if new tests are sufficiently valid and precise to be used in research studies and for quality control purposes.

The gene p53 suppresses cancer and inflammation in the body, and NIEHS researchers speculate that changes in p53 lead to changes in inflammation and the ability to repair DNA damage. This study wants blood samples from participants to find out how the changes in p53 lead to these conditions.

Innate immunity is the process by which white blood cells and other parts of the immune system sense and respond to potential infections by causing an inflammation. Researchers are interested in studying how the body responds to certain environmental factors, and whether the body’s response can contribute to chronic illnesses or diseases such as asthma and certain types of cancer.

NIEHS Researchers will look at how differences in people’s genes may cause their body to respond in different ways to glucocorticoids. Glucocorticoids are hormones made by the human body that are essential for life but in excess may cause diseases such as obesity and diabetes.